Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Arriving In Male International Airport (Ibrahim Nasir International Airport) In Maldives

ARRIVING IN MALE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (IBRAHIM NASIR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT) IN MALDIVES

Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, more commonly known as Male International Airport is the main airport catering to international flights in the Maldives. It is located on Hulhule Island on Male Atoll which is next to the capital island of Male. The airport is named after Ibrahim Nasir who was the 2nd President of the Maldives.

As we were approaching Male International Airport on Hulhule Island, we peeked eagerly out of our tiny airplane window. We had heard so much about Maldives and were eager to experience as much as we could of this wonderful place. The atolls below us were things we had never seen before and we were ooo-ing and ahh-ing, pointing excitedly at the mixture of different colours of the ocean. The dark blue of deep water and the much lighter blue of shallow water ringing the atolls.

As our plane started to descend, we continued peering out the window. It suddenly occurred to us that the plane seemed really really close to the sea, and all we could see out of our tiny plane windows were blue waters, where was the runway?? When the plane wheels touched the runway, a glance out the window showed that the runway was on a thin strip of land bordered by the sea, and gave the illusion of the plane landing on water instead of solid ground.

We got off the plane straight onto the runway, with the sun bright and shiny and the smell of the sea in the air. We hadn't seen much of the Maldives yet but we were delighted with what we had.

Ibrahim Nasir International Airport isn't a very big airport and we were through all the necessary procedures really quickly. We got on a bus and were driven to the Four Seasons private lounge in the Maldivian Air Taxi area which is pretty near to the airport, they had lots and lots of cheerful red sea planes. There were refreshments like drinks and peanuts and even muffins at the Four Seasons private lounge. Remembering the advice from my aunt that had been to Maldives, we grabbed a pair of ear plugs each from the lounge before we got on the sea plane.

To get to Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Resort that my aunt had booked, we had to take a cheerful red sea plane. Karen and I had never been on a sea plane before and it looked like it was going to be lots of fun. Little did we know that those cheerful red sea planes were horrible if you're prone to airsickness.

Read about our adventure/misadventure on the sea plane and our other adventures in Maldives in the links below.